Gaurdian UK-Brown should listen to the military and quit Iraq now

[go west young man]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/oct/03/foreignpolicy.israel

Brown and Miliband may continue to refuse to admit that the invasion was wrong. "We will not resile from that decision," they like to say. The important thing is to recognise that Britain can make no further impact in Iraq. Basra has been under the control of Shia parties with armed militias for three years with the consent of the British military. Pragmatically, British officers saw where the local power lay and decided not to confront it. Whether these Shia militias fight or make deals among themselves is not an issue that 4,000 or 2,000 British soldiers at Basra air station can influence.

Similarly, whatever the US decides to do with its own doomed mission in Iraq is beyond London's control. There is no basis to imagine that by remaining in Iraq, Britain has some say over how long or short a time the US stays there. British politicians should take the advice of the British military. They should withdraw UK forces from Iraq completely, and do it now.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. why isn't Gordon doing it?